Page 28 of The Do-Over

“Right?” He was beaming again, and I was so, so happy for him.Chris had been my best friend since we’d both gotten fake notes to miss swimming our freshman year. We assumed we’d be able to just sit out, but Coach Stroud made us stand on the side of the pool and do the strokes with our hands. On dry land.

I would’ve died of mortification by myself, but Chris made it into choreography. I’d laughed so hard at his ludicrous dances that we’d both earned detentions.

We spent the rest of the drive to Chris’s discussing Alex Lopez’s greatness, and Nick was quiet. I was making all sorts of internal judgments about his silence until he said to Chris as he pulled onto his street, “Just make sure you let him see the real you; then the guy doesn’t stand a chance.”

“Who are you, Nick Stark?” Chris teased. “I haven’t talked to you since second grade Cub Scouts, and now here you are, acting like some kind of hot, grumpy Cupid.”

“You shut the fuck up right now.”

Chris started laughing, and so did I. “I can’t believe either of you were in Cub Scouts.”

“I’ll have you know I was the best knotter in the squad,” Chris said, unzipping the outside pouch of his backpack and pulling out his keys.

“Pack,” Nick corrected, slowing as Chris’s house approached.

“Pack,” Chris repeated, rolling his eyes and shaking his head at me.

“Thanks for the ride, Nick,” Chris said when we pulled into his driveway. I opened the door and got out so he could get past me, and I wondered why Nick hadn’t dropped me off first. Itseemed like he’d have to backtrack now, but maybe Nick had to go somewhere in the direction of my house or something. Maybe he had a hot older girlfriend who lived by me and he was heading over to pick her up. Despite his being witness to the most mortifying moments of my life today, he was still practically a stranger.

When I got back in and closed the door, Chris gestured for me to roll down my window.

“You sure you’re okay?” he asked, turning his lips down like he was worried. “That stunt with Josh was verynotlike you.”

“I just… I don’t know. I really had my heart set on a perfect Valentine’s Day this year so I might’ve forced things.”

“You think?” Chris said.

“I wanted to tell him that I love him, but then Nick—”

“NO,” Chris snapped.

“—ruined it.”

“I don’t thinkIwas what ruined it,” Nick said from behind the wheel.

Chris said, “You’re joking, right? You were going to say the L-word?”

Why was he saying it like I was out of my mind? “I’m totally serious.”

His eyes got huge and he shook his head back and forth. “No, no, no. Em, you don’t love him.”

“Yes, I do—”

“How long have you even been going out with him? Isn’t it a little soon?”

“Three months today, actually.”

“Three months.” His eyes shot over to Nick and then back to me. “Today?”

“Yep.”

His eyebrows went all the way up. “Don’t you think this is a little convenient?”

“What do you mean?”

He said, “Okay. Here you are, Little Miss Planner. Little Miss To-Do List. As long as I’ve known you, you’ve been obsessed with everything fitting into neat little boxes that you can check off.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

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